What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[nicholasrope]

Cruel Intentions

Ryan Philippe and Sarah Michelle Geller are 2 rich step-siblings and they make a bet where he has to seduce the virginal Reese Witherspoon also Geller wants revenge on her Ex, so she wants to ruin his current Girlfriend, Selma Blair.

This one is 25 years old (I know LOL) and haven't seen this in a long while and wasn't sure if it would still hold up, it does. I thoroughly enjoyed this still and now that I'm older, I appreciated the performances of Philippe and Geller as they excelled in their roles and at 93 minutes, it breezed by and the ending when Bittersweet Symphony started playing was still brilliant.

Coyote Ugly

Piper Perabo is a fledgling Songwriter and moves to New York in order to further her dreams. Whilst there, she gets a job at a Bar which can get pretty wild (In a somewhat civilized manner) and has a relationship with Australian Adam Garcia.

A 23 year old Movie (Man I feel old) and I remember liking it and having seen it in my collection, I actually came to the realization that I couldn't remember anything that actually happens therefore it was like watching it for the 1st time and again I really enjoyed it, this was a good fun movie.

It felt weird that it was a Jerry Bruckenheimer production though.

A League Of Their Own

Based on the True Story of the formation of the Women's Professional Baseball League during WWII and the trials and tribulations that followed. Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna star as well as Jon Lovitz (In a funny role) in a favourite of mine and is very enjoyable.

Madonna's This Used To Be My Playground is a very under-rated Movie Song in my opinion.

[Frankie Teardrop]

MUSCLE – It’s not quite ‘Shane Meadows does Fight Club’, but there’s a little bit of that in it. Cavan Clerkin plays Simon, an ordinary bloke who’s stressed by his job and ailing relationship, setting him up on a quest for meaning that he believes will start when he joins the local gym. Instead of truth, what he finds there is personal-trainer-cum-psychopath Craig Fairbrass, who inveigles his way into Simon‘s home and transforms it into a drugs hangout host to what must surely be UK cinema’s grimmest orgy. ‘Muscle’ is bleak. This is due in no small part to the monochrome photography, which frames North East UK’s post-industrial wilderness so vividly that you can almost feel the rain on your face as you stare in mourning at the outskirts of Sunderland. Soundtrack electronics, lush but funereal, cement the downer mood. There’s a real sense of claustrophobia, of entrapment, engulfment – Simon is drowning at the mercy of a steroid psycho and his court of violent jesters, slipping further when he’s groomed as a drug mule. True to the received form of movies about desperate guys under pressure, he can only be squeezed so much before action seems inevitable, even if ‘action’ in this case amounts to looking moody in a van and making a few phone calls. ‘Muscle’ tends increasingly to nightmare as it draws to its close. I didn’t like the resolution at first, but it grew on me, loose ends giving way to a haze of dreamy darkness. Let’s just hope they’re happy with shitting on his table and leaving it at that.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I've just watched the first few minutes of Sleepy Hollow to see what the new Blu-ray release was like seeing as the last one was said to be poor.

Delighted with it.

A lovely 1:78:1 picture that fills the whole screen. Colours are bright in daylight and even the muted colours of night have a nice sharp image to them.

The sound, a 5:1 Master Audio dts track is crystal clear and deep when it needs to be.

I only watched until Christopher Lee had said a few lines then turned it off. I could have watched it all there and then.

Saving it for late October. Quite excited to watch it now.

[davcol]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The French Connection (1971)

I've never found William Friedkin's seminal crime thriller the easiest film to like. It's probably the documentary style of movie making, it doesn't really feel like a typical thriller. Here instead of a story developing we are pretty much thrust into a case that's already going on as we follow cops Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider in their pursuit (literally) of a French drug smuggler (Fernando Rey) on the verge of a multi million heroin deal in Brooklyn.

Hackman's 'Popeye' Doyle is very much the anti-hero of the film, ruthless in the extreme although pretty cool. " All right, Popeye's here! Get your hands on your heads, get off the bar, and get on the wall!" he announces as he barges into a Brooklyn bar whose clients all seem to be black drug users. The film is largely shot on location in Brooklyn's seedier areas which help add to the dark tone of the piece with Friedkin's urban location work some of the finest and memorable in cinema history

The nine minute chase during the final third is rightly celebrated as Doyle in a car frantically attempts to keep up with a hitman on board an elevated train. Much of it is shot in first person from the drivers seat of the car and it''s genuinely thrilling to this day. As with Bullitt (1968) no modern CGI FX fest can match it for realism.

So whilst i still don't find the film the easiest to love it's one i certainly admire and am finding it growing on me more and more.

I remember watching some of it way back in the 80s and it was the subway scene. That one scene peaked my interest enough to want to watch the full film. I hear what you are saying about the almost documentary style of it being an acquired taste but for me i really like that aspect and love the film in general.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Lost Boys (1987)

A divorced mother (Dianne Wiest) moves to the Californian coastal town of Santa Carla with her two teenage sons as played by the brooding Jason Patric and a Corey. The boys quickly run into trouble on the pier with the local teenage bike gang lead by Kiefer Sutherland's enigmatic David, who turn out to be a pack of punk rock / metalhead vampires.

I had an inkling that watching this film on Blu-ray might give me reason to reappraise it. The high definition image makes the nightlife on the pier come visually alive and the 5:1 True HD soundtrack is an aural delight especially when the classic rock songs of the soundtrack reverberate round the room. Good times indeed.

The actual film itself remains a vessel of bringing vampires to the MTV generation and in truth it works. The vampire gang are coolness personified (Except Alex Winter who never looks cool) and their gang stuff is basically an update of films like The Wild One (1953) and American Graffiti (1973).

The vampire action is very much of it's time with echoes of Salem's Lot (1979) and Fright Night (1985) going on, not that it's a bad thing, as the script, which is generally quite clever, takes us on a fun albeit glossy ride.

The film still has one big drawback which threatens to kill all momentum - Yes that f*cking idiot in the red bandanna and his childish antics - Once a Goonie, always a f*cking Goonie., but on the whole last night was a far more enjoyable experience than the first time i watched it on dvd many years ago.

Still not a patch on Near Dark, though.

[davcol]

Originally Posted by gag

Sound of Freedom, decided to go see this with National Cinema Day for £3, was going to go about 3 times today and see a few films and make use of the deal, but a bit of a family crisis stopped me, anyhow, based on a true story about a guy who rescues kids from traffickers, it was alright nowt special, at times it felt like just a normal film that was a tadge ott, especially when goes into the jungle, it brings home how bad child trafficking is, the storyline was more to do with just saving 2 kids, instead of a storyline about saving kids and bringing the ppl who traffic to justice, but I also felt it fell a bit flat and dull, but also gave the impression that most of the trafficking was US based and not a worldwide problem, the demand is so bad that it's slowly over taking drugs, goes to show you what a sick world we are living in when there must be a lot pedophiles otherwise the demand wouldn't be so high, some ppl have posted on letterboxd about how ppl walked out of the film?? I get the storyline is a touchy subject of kids getting stolen and used as sex objects, and there's a borderline of how far they can go and what can show, but I didn't think it showed too much to be too offensive to be disgusted at making you want to walk out and be shocked by the film, it's ok to watch in your spare time but don't rush to see it.

All i heard about it was that it is a "QAnon" film and is controversial. It turns out that other than Jim Caviezels real life views the film has nothing to do QAnon. Strange times we live in where if you dont like an actors belief you should boycot their projects.

[iank]

I think it's more that it was exposing the summer vacations of the Hollywood elite.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

A new Sherlock Holmes story which incorporates parts of Conan Doyle's The Final problem, in which Holmes and Watson attempt to stop Professor Moriarty and his (extremely) intricate plot to initiate war throughout Europe.

Robert Downey Jr returns in this second Holmes film from director Guy Ritchie. Again this is more comic book romp than actual Conan Doyle adaption and the film's entertainment value once more relies on the chemistry between Jude Law's Dr. Watson and Downey's mercurial Holmes than it does on actual plot.

At over two hours in length it's surprising that Holmes mainstays Irene Adler, Inspector Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes and Watson's new wife Mary are all given short shrift despite the film feeling over long, although Jared Harris makes for a decent if not definitive Moriarty.

[Dave Boy]

Battle-Beyond-The-Stars-quad.jpg
BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS (1980)

According to my Star Wars Stormtrooper Manual, I saw this movie at Reigate Majestic Cinema on Saturday 28th February 1981.
So this young lad was 15 years old when I saw this for the first time. So you can imagine the effect of seeing Sybil Danning as St Exmin the Valkyrie, Ha ha!
I met Sybil on a few occasions and had a few pictures signed.
Really enjoy this movie. Great fun.
I've got the UK quad poster here and the vinyl soundtrack.

"You've never seen a Valkyrie go down"!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Dave Boy

"You've never seen a Valkyrie go down"!

In my dreams!